Conveying apparatus



Patented Apr. 30, 1895.

(No Model.)

T. S. MILLER. CONVEYING APPARATUS.

NITED STATES PATENT CONVEYING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 538,455, dated April30, 1895.

Application tiled March 4, 1895. Serial NIL-540,420. (No model.)

To all whom it may con/cern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS SPENCER MIL- LER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of South Orange, in the county of Essex and Stateof New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefnllmprovements inConveying Apparatus, of which the following is a specication.

Figure l is an elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a detail.

In the patent to Locke, No.l 295,776, a conveying apparatus is describedcontaining fallrope-carriers connected with each other and with theload-carriage by ropes or chains which, as the fall-rope is drawn in,hang downward in loops that are very objectionable by reason of theirliability to entanglement under the vibrations lo which all the partsare subjected. ,Y

The object of my present invention is to provide means whereby the slackof such flexible connections between the fall-rope-carriers may besupported so as to obviate the diniculty above referred to.

In the accompanyingdrawings, 1 is the head tower.

2 is the tail tower.

3 is the cable.

4 is the load-carriage.

5 is the rope-drun1-engi11e.

6 is the fall-rope.

7 is the fall-block.

8 is the traction-rope whereby the load'carriage is hauled in or out.

9, 9, dre., are the fall-rope-carriers and 10, 10, &c., the ropes orchains connecting the fall-rope-carriers with each other and with theload-carriage andwhereby the fall-rope-carriers are spaced on the span.

11 and. 12 are sheaves mounted, respectively, on masts on top of thehead and tail towers.

Over these runs a rope 13 which is made fast at one end and at the otherend is held taut by a suspended weight 14.

15, 15, 85e., are sheave-blocks, each or" which suspends one of theropes 10 from the rope 13. Each of these sheave-blocks contains a sheave16 to run on the rope 13 and a'sheave 17 over which runs the rope 10.

When, now, the load-carriage is out on the span, the several connectingropes 10 will pull down the suspension-rope13 by raising the weight 14,so that the spacing of the fall-ropecarriers 9 will not be interferedwith. As, however, the load-carriage returns toward the head of the spanas the loops in the connecting ropes 10 are formed, instead of hangingdownward they will be raised upward by the straightening of the rope 13under the strain of the weight 14. The weights 14 and 18 will, inpulling, tend to draw the rope carriers together. Hence, as the loadcarriage approaches the head tower the carriers will move slowly in thesame direction. This will reduce the shock of the carriage against thecarrier and also of one carrier against the carrier ahead.

In a conveying apparatus, in combination, the load-carriage, thefall-rope, a ,series of fallropecarriers, flexible connections betweenthe same, a suspension rope, means whereby said suspension-rope isconnected with the loops of said flexible connections, and means Wherebysaid suspension-rope is straightened as the rope-carriers approach eachother, substantially as described.

THOS. SPENCER MILLER.

Witnesses M. WILSON, WILLIAM T. SABINE, Jr.

